let's talk cables...

jbj said:
I use planet waves and they sound fine.

My pedalboard is a complete mishmash with some of those really cheap multicoloured patch cables to hand soldered w/ neutrik jacks.

I should probably invest in some proper patch cables or george L's at some point.
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My pedalboard is all Canare cable with Angled Switchcraft jacks. Contrary to peoples opinions if you go the George L route, learn to solder. A soldered connection will get you a secure connection rather than just screwing it down.
 
21' Monster "rock" cable... $44.95
24' pedalsnake base snake... $59.99

That's all. I don't really buy into the REALLY high dollar stuff. Middle-of-the-road for me, though I've obtained great tone w cheap cables too.
 
no idea who made mine...
cheap though.
not bargain shop cheap, but $20-30 or so for the longer ones.

I could see maybe springing for higher end stuff for recording, but I sure as shootin' wouldn't do it for gigs.
 
Modern Saint said:
My pedalboard is all Canare cable with Angled Switchcraft jacks. Contrary to peoples opinions if you go the George L route, learn to solder. A soldered connection will get you a secure connection rather than just screwing it down.
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Bah. My quite sizable board is patched mostly with the Core X2 pedalboard kit. Have yet to solder any of them and not a single one has failed after 3 years, and I'm on the road often and my board gets a lot of use.
 
Psychotronic said:
Bah. My quite sizable board is patched mostly with the Core X2 pedalboard kit. Have yet to solder any of them and not a single one has failed after 3 years, and I'm on the road often and my board gets a lot of use.
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Most likely it is because your cables are not in constant motion or change. Unlike guitar cables (from the guitar to the board and then to the amp) which are constantly being yanked in and out, you won't see much breakage on your board connections. What you may see over time though is a reduction in signal. This will be caused by oxidation which builds up on the connection - screw to wire. You don't get a full failure, you get reduced signal. When you start to troubleshoot, you will look at your tubes, your amp pots, your speaker, your power connections and not realize that the oxidized wire going to the jack screw has reduced your audio signal by that much.
 
...whatever I can get cheap anymore...I bought a monster cable once, ended up selling it to a fella for $30...Ive rocked fender cables, planet waves...all kinds of stuff...but I always come back the cheap Musiciansfriend, yellow ended cables...they are my favorite...
 
I use whichever cable is closest to me at the time. I don't notice any difference between all the brands except the Mogami and Monster because they use the fancy, labeled connectors. :shrug:

I do like the ones with a lifetime warranty, though. That's handy sometimes.
 
Modern Saint said:
Contrary to peoples opinions if you go the George L route, learn to solder. A soldered connection will get you a secure connection rather than just screwing it down.
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I've got over 6 years of abuse on my George Ls. No solder. No failures. There is a technique to preparing the cable and assembling the plug.

Anyhow my cables are a mish-mosh of George Ls on my pedal board, Whirlwind, Spectraflex and Proco for the rest. I do have 1 monster cable speaker cable that I got on the cheap and have no complaints about its performance. I've tested out some of the high end cables in the past and I'd rather spend my cash elsewhere.
 
k4df4l said:
I've got over 6 years of abuse on my George Ls. No solder. No failures. There is a technique to preparing the cable and assembling the plug.

Anyhow my cables are a mish-mosh of George Ls on my pedal board, Whirlwind, Spectraflex and Proco for the rest. I do have 1 monster cable speaker cable that I got on the cheap and have no complaints about its performance. I've tested out some of the high end cables in the past and I'd rather spend my cash elsewhere.
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I just go by my experience repairing medical equipment for the past 25+ years. If you were to take an Oscilloscope and measure the output with your 6 year old cables. You should see some signal degradation that has occured due to oxidation. You will still hear you signal, but line losses are present. Computers are notorious for failures of the 5 volt power supplies due to oxidation. It doesn't mean that the PS is not putting out power. The same goes for why boutique pedal manufacturers advertise the use of CO2 filled footswitches, no presence of oxygen and/or moisture.

As long as you are happy with the performance of your cables, that is all that matters - I am just stating fact. The George L process saved the non-solder world by creating a cable system of convience for the DIY'ers. It is strange that the Bill Lawrence system never caught on 20 years ago as it is basically the same system.
 
Modern Saint said:
I just go by my experience repairing medical equipment for the past 25+ years. If you were to take an Oscilloscope and measure the output with your 6 year old cables. You should see some signal degradation that has occured due to oxidation. You will still hear you signal, but line losses are present. Computers are notorious for failures of the 5 volt power supplies due to oxidation. It doesn't mean that the PS is not putting out power. The same goes for why boutique pedal manufacturers advertise the use of CO2 filled footswitches, no presence of oxygen and/or moisture.

As long as you are happy with the performance of your cables, that is all that matters - I am just stating fact. The George L process saved the non-solder world by creating a cable system of convience for the DIY'ers. It is strange that the Bill Lawrence system never caught on 20 years ago as it is basically the same system.
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They still sound great....what ever signal loss may be present, it hasn't been sufficient to impact their performance (even in comparison to newer solder factory patches).
 
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